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As Spiritualism grew in popularity during the nineteenth century, William Crookes, by now a scientist of international repute, decided to investigate it using scientific methods of recording. Originally Crookes had been sceptical about the phenomenon believing it to be mere trickery.
In his investigations of the conduction of electricity in low pressure gases, he discovered that as the pressure was lowered, the negative electrode (cathode) appeared to emit rays (the so-called "cathode rays", now known to be a stream of free electrons, and used in cathode-ray display devices).
Jun 8, 2018 · The investigation began in May 1871, after the return of D. D. Home from Russia. It was witnessed by Crookes's chemical assistant, Williams; his brother Walter; Sir William Huggins, the eminent physicist and astronomer, and ex-president of the Royal Society; and Sergeant E. W. Cox, a prominent lawyer.
- Brief Biography
- Interest in Spiritualism
- Attitudes to Psychic Claims
- DD Home
- Materializations with Florence Cook
- Other Investigations
- Telepathy
- Statements About Survival
- Influence and Criticism
- Scholarship
William Crookes was born on June 17, 1832, to tailor Joseph Crookes and Mary Scott. His early instruction came from private tutors and a boarding school, and from a brief stay at Prospect House, a college. He lacked formal university education, but in 1848 attended the Royal College of Chemistry in London, and soon afterwards was engaged as an assi...
When Crookes started his psychical researches, spiritualism was already well-established in the UK. Published accounts of the feats of Daniel Dunglas Home were bringing the subject to a wide public,12 and mediums were holding seances, both for the public and in private circles.13 The movement variously featured the appearance of new periodicals suc...
Crookes claimed later that he started to investigate mediumship with no preconceptions. However, there are indications that early on he was inclined towards a belief in survival of death, having been moved to hold séances by the death of his brother Philip, who succumbed to yellow fever in 1867 aged 21 while working in the Caribbean. During a sitti...
Crookes’s initial investigations appeared in two papers entitled ‘Experimental Investigation of a New Force,’.35 and ‘Some Further Experiments on Psychic Force’.36 These contain the now classic accounts of his instrumental studies of physical phenomena presented by the medium Daniel Dunglas Home,describing experiments that he believed provided evid...
Crookes is especially remembered for his sensational claims regarding a teenaged medium named Florence Cook, notably the full form materialization of a figure who appeared human in every respect, and who identified herself as ‘Katie King’.46 (The appearance of Katie King has always been considered of great importance to support the reality of the p...
Kate Fox
Crookes also held sittings with Kate Fox, who together with her sister Margaret had been the centre of a highly-publicized poltergeist incident in Hydesville near Rochester in 1848, the episode that launched the spiritualist movement. These sittings were notable for the abundant production of the ‘rapping’ phenomena with which the pair were associated. Crookes wrote: On another occasion, a sitting held in darkness, Crookes held Fox’s hands with one of his, and had her place her feet on top of...
Charles Williams
Crookes held séances with Charles Williams. In an 1874 séance held at Crookes’s home, Crookes controlled the medium on one side while Cox, the only other person present, controlled her on the other side. Cox stated:
Fraudulent Mediums
Crookes also experimented with mediums who were subsequently discovered to be fraudulent. He reported holding séances with Rosina Showers, during which he witnessed a supposedly materialized figure in her presence, although he could not see Showers in the dark.56 He later stated in a letter to Home that she had confessed to him in writing that the phenomena were faked.57 He was more certain about physical phenomena he witnessed58 in 1875 with Anna Eva Fay, an American public psychic performer...
In his Presidential Address to the Society for Psychical Research Crookes broached the subject of telepathy in relation to physical forces, a much-discussed topic at the time.62 He referred to the recent discovery of Röntgen radiations (X-rays) and speculated on rays capable of accomplishing ‘the transmission of intelligence from one sensitive to a...
Crookes’s ideas about survival of death, and of discarnate agency as an explanation for séance phenomena, appeared to fluctuate, at least in his statements. In an 1861 article for a popular monthly, defending the principle of conservation of energy, an important aspect of nineteenth-century physics.69Here he seemed open not only to conservation of ...
During the early 1870s, Crookes’s psychical researches were widely discussed in Britain,81 also in France,82 Italy,83 Germany,84 Spain85 and elsewhere. He became well known as a defender of the physical phenomena of spiritualism; his name was mentioned in many contemporary writings on the subject,86 including magazines and newspapers,87 also scient...
The most complete general source about Crookes’s life and work (including his studies of mediums) is William H Brock’s William Crookes (1832–1919) and the Commercialization of Science135 which shows the diversity of his interests and his efforts to develop money-producing projects. Brock suggests that certain aspects of Crookes’s mainstream researc...
His investigations with the element also led to his discovery of the principle upon which he built the Crookes radiometer, a device that produces rotary motion from light. This instrument was the predecessor of a number of more sensitive types of radiant energy detectors.
Brock devotes considerable attention to Crookes’ investigations into spiritualism and his affiliations with various individuals and organizations involved with claims and study of paranormal experiences (pp. 119–153, 179–209).
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The most controversial aspect of Crookes’s career, even today, is his investigation “into the Phenomena called Spiritual” during the 1870’s. Following Darwinism it fell to Crookes to provoke the last major eruption in the battle between science and religion.
